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Summary
Summary
Can economics be passionate? Can it center on people and what really matters to them day-in and day-out. And help us understand their hidden motives for why they do what they do in everyday life?
Uri Gneezy and John List are revolutionaries. Their ideas and methods for revealing what really works in addressing big social, business, and economic problems gives us new understanding of the motives underlying human behavior. We can then structure incentives that can get people to move mountains, change their behavior -- or at least get a better deal.
But finding the right incentive can be like looking for a needle in a haystack. Gneezy and List's pioneering approach is to embed themselves in the factories, schools, communities, and offices where people work, live, and play. Then, through large-scale field experiments conducted "in the wild," Gneezy and List observe people in their natural environments without them being aware that they are observed.
Their randomized experiments have revealed ways to close the gap between rich and poor students; to stop the violence plaguing inner-city schools; to decipher whether women are really less competitive than men; to correctly price products and services; and to discover the real reasons why people discriminate.
To get the answers, Gneezy and List boarded planes, helicopters, trains, and automobiles to embark on journeys from the foothills of Kilimanjaro to California wineries; from sultry northern India to the chilly streets of Chicago; from the playgrounds of schools in Israel to the boardrooms of some of the world's largest corporations. In The Why Axis, they take us along for the ride, and through engaging and colorful stories, present lessons with big payoffs.
Their revelatory, startling, and urgent discoveries about how incentives really work are both revolutionary and immensely practical. This research will change both the way we think about and take action on big and little problems. Instead of relying on assumptions, we can find out, through evidence, what really works. Anyone working in business, politics, education, or philanthropy can use the approach Gneezy and List describe in The Why Axis to reach a deeper, nuanced understanding of human behavior, and a better understanding of what motivates people and why.
Author Notes
Uri Gneezy was born and raised in Israel, where he learned applied game theory firsthand in the streets of Tel Aviv. Dr. Gneezy is the Epstein/Atkinson Endowed Chair in Behavioral Economics and professor of economics and strategy at the Rady School of Management at the University of California, San Diego.
John A. List grew up in a working-class family in Wisconsin -- where his father drove trucks for a living -- and learned economics in hobby markets. Dr. List is the Homer J. Livingston Professor of Economics at the University of Chicago. He has been a research associate at the National Bureau of Economics (NBER) for more than a decade and served as senior economist on the President's Council of Economic Advisors for environmental and resource economics.
Reviews (4)
Publisher's Weekly Review
Gneezy and List, economists at U.C. San Diego and the University of Chicago, respectively, specialize in ingenious "field experiments" that elucidate the workings of social psychology and decision making: from a ball-tossing game that exposes the social pressures that make women shy away from competition, to role-playing skits that tease out the subtleties of discrimination at car dealerships. There are some less-groundbreaking findings-men, it seems, give more money to door-to-door fundraisers if they are attractive females-but also many counterintuitive insights: it's possible to boost sales of a wine by raising its price; increase charitable giving by letting prospects opt out of solicitations; and even raise profits by letting customers pay whatever they want for a product. Writing in the Freakonomics vein of breezy pop-econ (Steven Levitt provides the foreword), Gneezy and List assert that "self-interest lies at the root of human motivation," but it's a self-interest broadly conceived to include the "warm glow" of philanthropic sacrifice and readily influenced by the unobtrusive policy nudges they suggest. The authors' lucid, engaging exposition of thought-provoking research spotlights some of our more perverse promptings-and their underlying logic. Photos. Agent: Levine Greenberg Literary Agency. (Oct.) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.
Choice Review
The title of this work may lead readers to believe that it is another work in behavioral economics. It is that and more. The major contribution Gneezy (Univ. of California, San Diego) and List (Univ. of Chicago) make is to describe field experiments and what they can reveal about what drives behavior. Through their field experiments, the authors provide insights into such issues as the wage gap between women and men, the achievement gap in education, discrimination, and charitable giving. In that regard, this work will interest those in other social sciences beyond economics, business, and education. The ultimate goal is to challenge assumptions and learn through observation which incentives (or disincentives) apply in specified situations. The authors contend that gaining such understanding may facilitate policy being better crafted and conducted. As the authors state, "Without understanding that life really is a laboratory, and that we must all learn from our discoveries, we cannot hope to make headway in crucial areas." Summing Up: Highly recommended. All levels of undergraduate students; general readers; professionals. M. H. Lesser emeritus, Lenoir-Rhyne University
Kirkus Review
More fun, Freakonomics-style stories about why people do the things they do. In this debut, Gneezy (Behavioral Economics/Univ. of California, San Diego) and List (Economics/Univ. of Chicago) draw on 20 years of pioneering field research to explain human motivations. Conducting randomized experiments that examine people's behavior in the real world, they have explored "the real underbelly of human motivation" behind problems in such areas as education, discrimination and gender equity. Their informative stories about the behavior of people in real-life situations discuss their fascinating discoveries: Most modern-day discrimination stems from people or companies trying to increase their profits. Women earn less because of deeply held cultural worldviews. Financial incentives help underachieving school kids get higher grades. Donors give money mainly to feel good about themselves. In sum, write the authors, "self-interest lies at the root of human motivation--not necessarily selfishness, but self-interest." Once one understands what people value (money, relationships, praise, etc.), it should be possible to help close the achievement gap in schools, get donors to give more money, and so on, by designing incentives that work to change behavior. Gneezy and List offer illuminating discussions on many topics, from the differences between animus-based and economic discrimination to how women can grow up to be more competitive and close the gender gap in the labor market. Their book brims with stories of the Chicago public schools, the matrilineal society of the Khasi tribal people, and the thinking behind charitable appeals to help children with cleft palates, among others. Weak title aside, this book will interest general readers as well as individuals and companies seeking to influence behaviors.]] Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Library Journal Review
Gneezy (economics & strategy, Rady Sch. of Management, Univ. of California-San Diego) and List (economics, Univ. of Chicago) here brilliantly meld social psychology with economics in an attempt to understand human behavior. The authors develop and conduct field experiments to study people in their natural environments and use the results to identify ways to address difficult problems such as the gap between rich and poor students, violence in schools, and gender differences in competition. Their unique approach, with its emphasis on field research, demonstrates effective incentives to solve these and other problems and change the outcomes. Other areas investigated include why people discriminate, how to best price products and services, and new ways to look at philanthropic fundraising. Their ideas, based on serious research, are presented in a straightforward and entertaining way. Eric Martin's well-paced delivery finds the right balance between the serious problems and entertaining anecdotes. Verdict Buy for public libraries and fans of Freakonomics.-Cynthia Jensen, Gladys Harrington Lib., Plano, TX (c) Copyright 2014. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Excerpts
Excerpts
The sign on the road in the Khasi hills of northeast India had a puzzling message: "Equitable distribution of self-acquired property rights." We asked Minott, our driver, what it meant. "I do not work in the rice fields, like most men of my tribe," he told us proudly. "I work as a translator. And a driver. And I operate a gas station in my sister's house. And I trade goods at the market. You see! I work very hard!" We nodded in agreement. He certainly seemed like a natural-born entrepreneur….But Minott's life was constricted. Many of the things he wanted to do required his sister's permission, because in the matrilineal Khasi society, women hold the economic power. The sign on the road, Minott explained, was part of a nascent men's movement, as the men in Khasi society began to articulate their resentment over being treated as "breeding bulls and babysitters." Here was a parallel universe--one we believed might help us solve one of the most vexing economic questions in Western society, inequality between men and women. Excerpted from The Why Axis: Hidden Motives and the Undiscovered Economics of Everyday Life by Uri Gneezy, John List All rights reserved by the original copyright owners. Excerpts are provided for display purposes only and may not be reproduced, reprinted or distributed without the written permission of the publisher.
Table of Contents
| Foreword | p. ix |
| Introduction: Getting Beyond Assumptions | p. 1 |
| What Makes People Do What They Do? | |
| Chapter 1 How Can You Get People to Do What You Want? | p. 18 |
| When Incentives (Don't) Work and Why | |
| Chapter 2 What Can Craigslist, Mazes, and a Ball and Bucket Teach Us About Why Women Earn Less Than Men? | p. 32 |
| On the Plains Below Kilimanjaro | |
| Chapter 3 What Can a Matrilineal Society Teach Us About Women and Competition? | p. 49 |
| A Visit to the Khasi | |
| Chapter 4 How Can Sad Silver Medalists and Happy Bronze Medalists Help Us Close the Achievement Gap? | p. 63 |
| Public Education: The $627 Billion Problem | |
| Chapter 5 How Can Poor Kids Catch Rich Kids in Just Months? | p. 91 |
| A Voyage to Preschool | |
| Chapter 6 What Seven Words Can End Modern Discrimination? | p. 108 |
| I Don't Really Hate You, I Just Like Money | |
| Chapter 7 Be Careful What You Choose, It May Be Used Against You! | p. 129 |
| The Hidden Motives Behind Discrimination | |
| Chapter 8 How Can We Save Ourselves from Ourselves? | p. 145 |
| Using Field Experiments to Inform Life and Death Situations | |
| Chapter 9 What Really Makes People Give to Charity? | p. 171 |
| Don't Appeal to People's Hearts; Appeal to Their Vanity | |
| Chapter 10 What Can Cleft Palates and Opt-Out Boxes Teach Us About People's Reasons for Giving to Charity? | p. 146 |
| The Remarkable Phenomenon of Reciprocity | |
| Chapter 11 Why Is Today's Business Manager an Endangered Species? | p. 212 |
| Creating a Culture of Experimentation at Your Business | |
| Epilogue | p. 240 |
| How to Change the World... or at Least Get a Better Deal | |
| Life Is a Laboratory | |
| Acknowledgments | p. 245 |
| Notes | p. 247 |
| Index | p. 257 |
